Reminiscing
by Maya Tamika
Summary: Matthew and Francis arrange photos from their two years and two months together into photo albums. Naturally, this leads to reminiscing old memories. One thing leads to another and Francis arranges a very special surprise for Matthew. Franada fluff. And when I say fluff, I mean FLUFF. Mentions of USUK (or UKUS if you prefer, since I didn't specify).


Francis inserted his key into the lock and turned. He entered the apartment and saw Matthew sitting in the centre of the living room, surrounded by pictures and photo albums.

"Matthieu? What are you doing?" Francis asked. He walked into the kitchen and set his shopping bags down on the counter, then returned to Matthew and sat behind him, looking over his shoulder.

"Arranging our pictures," Matthew replied.

Francis noticed the two photo albums on the floor. One was closed and had a picture of Matthew and Francis kissing on the cover. Francis opened it inside the front cover, in neat, cursive writing, were the words _Francis and Matthew: Year 2_.

He flipped through the pictures, reliving the memories. One of the first was of Matthew with his hair pulled into an elegant up-do and a pout on his face as he glared at the camera. Francis stood behind him with a hairbrush and a hundred bobby pins in his hands, smiling down at the blonde head.

Francis chuckled, "this was what convinced you to cut your hair, wasn't it?"

Matthew glanced at the picture and smiled, "oui, it was. Al had been bothering me about it for weeks. Then you had to go and tie it up like I was a princess going to a ball…"

Francis ran his hand through Matthew's hair, "it's getting long again. Will I have to make you beautiful or will you cut it?"

Matthew thought for a moment, "maybe I'll let you play with it a _little_. Then I'll cut it."

"After I've had my fun?" Francis sniffed Matthew's hair, loving the way the younger blonde always smelled of maple syrup.

"Oui," Matthew replied.

Francis turned the page and found a picture of Francis, asleep on the couch with one arm hanging over the edge. Matthew was crouched next to him, a bowl of water in one hand and Francis's wrist in the other.

"Remember this?" Francis asked, pointing.

Matthew laughed, "yeah. Too bad it didn't work."

"I told you Mythbusters proved it doesn't work," Francis replied.

"Yeah, well, it doesn't hurt to try."

Another picture on the same page had Francis sitting up in the centre of the couch, smirking lustily while holding Matthew in place between his legs. Matthew was sitting on the floor, head turned to try and face Francis, one leg extended straight out and the other bent, but both clearly thrashing wildly. His face was set in protest as Francis was pulling the hem of his shirt up. Matthew's hands were grasping Francis's wrists, trying to keep his shirt on.

"You and your obsession with sex," Matthew teased, reaching up to rub one hand over Francis' stubbly chin.

"Who took this picture?" Francis asked, confused.

"Does it matter? Looks to me like you were more focused on me than the camera guy. Besides, I've never seen you protest when it comes to who's in the room with us when you decide to get intimate," Matthew answered.

Francis shrugged, "c'est vrai."

A few pages later, a picture of a very annoyed Matthew appeared, standing with his arms crossed next to his twin Alfred whose arm was draped over Matthew's shoulder as he laughed loudly. In the background, Alfred's boyfriend Arthur had a doily on his head and a kettle in his hand.

"Ah, Thanksgiving," Francis reminisced.

"Yeah. I'm not sure if I should say 'good times' or break down crying," Matthew smirked, "I don't know whose idea it was to give Al all that caffeine, but it was a terrible idea."

"Don't cry," Francis replied, "it was funny."

"Arthur didn't think so," Matthew pointed at the annoyed-looking Brit in the background.

"But it was," Francis nuzzled his head against Matthew's neck, "you have to admit that."

"Okay, it was. Just…don't tell Arthur I have this, okay? I told him I deleted it."

Francis chuckled, "I won't breathe a word."

On the next page, there was a picture of Matthew, wearing a sweater that looked like it was made from Christmas wrapping paper (because it was) with a red bow perched on his head, sitting next to a Christmas tree, a tag with the word _Francis_ in fancy cursive writing slapped on his forehead and a shy smile slapped on his lips.

"The best present I got last year," Francis purred at the memory.

"I'm glad," Matthew replied with a smile, "but you're distracting. I'm trying to finish the one from our first year together."

Francis noticed the other album, which was opened in front of Matthew, proudly displaying a picture of Francis pressing his lips to Matthew's cheek while Matthew blushed viciously and hid his face behind his hands.

"I'm glad you're not that shy anymore," Francis said, as he pressed a kiss to Matthew's cheek.

Matthew blushed slightly at the gesture, "I'm still shy, you idiot."

"Oui. But you're so adorable. I wouldn't want that to go away completely," Francis replied. He reached forward and began flipping backwards in the album. The majority of the pictures had Matthew shying away from the camera. Francis pouted, "why do you have all these in here?"

Matthew turned to the beginning of the album. Inside the front cover, in the same cursive writing as in the other album, were the words:_ Francis and Matthew: Year 1_. "It's in order," Matthew replied, "this is when we first started dating. Then these," he pointed to a pile of pictures off to one side, "are from later in the year, like our first Christmas together, New Year, etc."

"Well, don't let me distract you. I want you to get to the good stuff," Francis replied. He gently nibbled on the shell of Matthew's ear.

"You're not doing a very good job of not distracting me," Matthew tapped the _year 2_ album, "you keep looking through that while I finish this one."

"Alright," Francis did as Matthew asked, but soon got distracted and watched Matthew work as he added pictures to the _year 1_ album. The pictures he was putting in now looked more like the ones in the other book and Matthew's personality was more evident and he was less camera-shy.

Francis grabbed Matthew's wrist, stopping him as he held a picture of himself smiling widely and focusing on the person holding the camera. His violet eyes were bright and his hair was pulled back in a ponytail. In one hand he held a paintbrush and there were smudges of coloured paint on his too-big grey t-shirt. There was a brush of purple paint on his cheek and a streak of yellow on his forehead. There was also just a touch of green in his hair. Francis knew he had been the one to put all those there.

"I remember that," Francis remarked.

"You better," Matthew replied, "you were trying to teach me to paint like you and instead you ended up painting me."

Francis chuckled, "I remember it the other way around."

"Well…it may have been slightly mutual," Matthew admitted. He slid the picture into the album and picked up another, showing it to Francis, "I bet you didn't even know I had this."

Francis blinked down at the picture. It was of his profile, cigarette in mouth, leaning on the balcony of their apartment, staring out over the city. In the background, the buildings of the city faded into hills. The sky was painted in the colours of sunset. He wore a white, button down shirt with only the bottom half of the buttons done up, and white pants. His long, blonde hair and loose clothes were blowing in the wind. Francis reached over and took the picture from Matthew, "when did you take this?"

"I'm good, aren't I?" Matthew asked, taking the picture back, "I saw you standing out there and decided to take a picture."

"How did I not know you were there?" Francis asked.

Matthew shrugged, "like I said: I'm good. I have my secrets."

Francis poked Matthew in the side, earning a giggle, "I thought we weren't supposed to keep secrets from each other."

"I'm just very quiet and good at hiding," Matthew replied, "and we hadn't been dating very long at that point, so you didn't know me well enough to know when I'm sneaking up on you."

"I still don't always know," Francis admitted.

Matthew smiled and added the picture to the album.

"Oh! Look at this!" Matthew held up another picture for Francis' inspection. Francis and Matthew were sitting on opposite sides of a table. Francis had a spoon in one hand, holding it out toward Matthew, while his other hand was held in a gesture of "let me explain, mon cher". Matthew was leaning away from Francis, his hands pressed against the table and arms extended and his chair balanced on the back two legs. A light blush peppered his cheeks. "That was the first time I slept at your place."

Francis nodded, "oui. And the first time I cooked for you."

"Then you insisted that you feed me," Matthew continued, "and of course, Al was there to take the picture."

"And he couldn't stop laughing," Francis added, "wasn't that what it took for him to finally warm up to me?"

Matthew laughed and nodded, "yeah, it was." He inserted it into the album and picked up the next picture, "and the next morning, I got my revenge."

This picture was of Matthew and Francis, pressed closely together. One of Matthew's arms was extended toward the camera, as he was the one holding it, and the other was wrapped around Francis' neck and held a fork that had pancakes smothered in maple syrup on it. Matthew's face was pure elation, eyes bright and cheery, while Francis looked half-asleep and his blue eyes were focused off to one side.

Francis laughed when he saw the picture, "yes, yes you did. You made me pancakes and made sure I never forget that you're a morning person."

"Well, it's not like you're _not_ a morning person," Matthew countered.

"No. I just need caffeine."

"The _world_ needs caffeine."

Francis smiled and picked up another picture while Matthew put the one he was holding in the album, "this was when we went to the beach, wasn't it?"

Matthew looked at the picture and nodded, "yeah. With Al and Arthur. And the next few pictures were all taken at the same time, too."

The first picture was of Matthew, wearing Canadian flag swim trunks, lounging on a towel on the beach, soaking up the sun while sticking his tongue out at the person holding the camera. The next picture in the pile showed Matthew in the same position, now wet, glaring at something off camera. The next was taken from the same spot, but the person with the camera had turned so the picture showed Matthew running toward the ocean, chasing after Francis, who was holding a bucket in one hand as he ran.

"Al took those pictures," Matthew remembered.

"And I splashed you with water from the bucket," Francis added.

"Yes…I remember that," Matthew growled lightheartedly before giggling.

"Hey, what's that doing here?" Francis asked, picking up a picture of Alfred, sprawled out on the couch in Matthew and Francis' apartment, and Arthur lying on top of him, both of them fast asleep.

"I don't know," Matthew replied, "must have been from when they were visiting us sometime. I probably took it to use as blackmail or something." He chuckled, "I'll put it in the pile with the ones I'm going to give to them."

"You have a pile for pictures you're going to give to Alfred and Arthur?"

Matthew nodded, "I've found quite a few, actually. It's a bit surprising."

"Well, they're coming over for supper. You can give them to them then," Francis suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Matthew replied.

Francis glanced at the various pictures spread out around the living room, then at Matthew's hands as he continued placing pictures in the plastic sheets. "Do you have any from this year?" Francis asked.

"Yeah," Matthew answered, pointing to a small pile off to one side, "but I haven't bought an album for them yet."

An idea suddenly occurred to Francis, "I'll go get one."

"What? Right now?" Matthew asked.

"Oui," Francis replied, standing.

"Why?"

Francis shrugged, "parce que je peux."

Matthew shrugged, "alright. If you want to."

"Je suis de retour bientôt," Francis left a kiss on Matthew's cheek as he stood. Before he left, however, he stopped in his room and dug around in the bottom of his closet for a moment before found what he was looking for. He shoved it in his pocket and left the apartment.

"I'm back!" Francis called as he entered the apartment.

"I seriously thought you were just going to drive to Wal*Mart and get an album, not to the Wal*Mart in the next town over," Matthew teased. The piles of pictures around him had decreased in size (except for the one that they were giving to Alfred and Arthur, which had grown) and Francis could see that he was near the end of the current album.

"Well…there was a…setback," Francis said, sitting down next to Matthew on the floor again, "will this do?" He handed the album to Matthew.

"Oui," Matthew took it, "it's perfect." He looked at the new album, then at the two he already had, "but it's so much bigger than the other two."

"Well, I have a feeling this will be our best year yet," Francis smiled sweetly and put an arm around Matthew's waist.

Matthew returned the smile, "I hope so. I mean, here we are, two months into year three and it's already-" He stopped when he opened the new album. He stared down at it for a minute, then looked up at Francis, who was still smiling.

"Fr-Francis, I…" Matthew's face heated up as he gently stroked the words written on the inside of the cover, "I don't know what to say." His fingers trailed across to the centre hoop that held the pages in and he fingered the smaller golden hoop that was wrapped around it. "I-I mean…" He looked up again, tears in his eyes, then he threw his arms around Francis' neck, "YES! YES! Definitely yes!"

Francis laughed as the force of Matthew's hug knocked him to the floor. Matthew pushed himself up just enough to connect their lips, screaming, "I LOVE YOU! JE T'AIME!" over and over again between kisses.

"Put it on!" Francis demanded.

Matthew immediately scrambled off the Frenchman and returned to the album, which had closed when he flung himself at Francis. He opened it and, with trembling fingers, popped the hoop open and removed the ring, sliding it onto the ring finger of his left hand. He turned to Francis and smiled brightly before pressing their lips together again.

When they parted for breath, Matthew panted, "I think you're right. This is definitely going to be our best year yet."

**Hey, guys! So fluffy! I had a TON of fun writing this! :3 **

**OK, so, if any of you are artistically talented (because I'm not) and you want to draw any of the pictures (or anything) in this story, feel free to. I only ask that you link me because I want to see it!**

**I also take requests and I ship any of the characters from the FACE family with any of the other characters from the FACE family (for those of you who don't know, that means that I ship France, America, Canada, and England with each other. Except France/America. I don't ship them.). Franada (if you haven't guessed by now) is my OTP, but don't let that stop you if you want to request another couple (like FrUK. I like them, too!). I also ship PruCan, PruHun, GerIta, Spamano, etc., so don't feel limited to FACE family characters.**

**One more thing: do you want a sequel to this? I'll probably post it as chapter 2 and it'd be USUK (or UKUS if you prefer. Or both). So drop me a review or PM and let me know (I might do it whether I get requests to or not)!**

**All that to say I hope you enjoyed this!**

_**~Maya**_


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